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The hackers initially
claimed they published account details of 400,000 people, though subsequent
checks found that the majority of card numbers were wrong, or were
duplicates.

Credit card companies were inundated with phone calls and
Internet visits from worried card holders throughout Tuesday. Customers were
seeking to ensure that they did not fall victim to credit card
fraud.

Many struggled to get in touch with their card
providers.

The hackers encouraged people worldwide to use the information
posted online to make purchases, and said they would continue to publish more
account information in their possession.

Isracard CEO Dov Kotler said security every year
to prevent fraud. Any customer who had money stolen as a result of misuse would
be automatically compensated, he said.

Isracard also added a tool on its
website to allow customers to check if their credit card information was
compromised.

Visa CAL and Leumi Card also announced that they would
suspend all accounts that were listed in the post, contact the affected
customers, and issue new credit cards.

The Bank of Israel joined the
scramble to respond to the incident, blocking all affected cards for telephone
or Internet use. It announced that customers would not bear responsibility for
fraudulent use of their cards, but recommended that they examine charges in
their statements and report any unusual activity swiftly.

The stolen
information was stored on two coupon websites, which were accessed via a third
site that was on the same server, but which lacked sufficient defenses, said the
Dooble Internet company, which hosts the sites.

Dooble stressed that it
did not construct the site that was broken into.

It likened the attack to
a burglar bursting into one apartment to gain access to another in the same
building.

A hacker who called himself “OxOmar” said he was head of the
Wahhabi Saudi Internet group, and described his actions as “a gift to the world
for the new year,” adding, “It is fun to see 400,000 Israelis in
panic.”

“The Israeli cards will lose credibility in the world’s eyes,
like the Nigerian cards,” he wrote.

The hackers, claiming to be part of
the well known international Anonymous hacking group, published a 30- megabyte
file on the popular Israeli sports website One, after online attackers
temporarily seized control of its homepage.

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